Chemical products composed of various component chemical concentrates may be used to clean or sanitize food and beverage production equipment and all associated environmental surfaces in plants that produce food and beverage products. On-site formulation systems prepare such chemical products by combining one or more component chemical concentrates according to a specialized formula or plan. The chemical products are then dispensed to a dispense location, such as a jug or drum.
If a chemical product is dispensed into a drum, the chemical product may be stored in the drum for a predetermined period of time prior to use. An on-site allocation system later distributes the chemical product from the drum to a point-of-use according to a specified plan or sequence. For example, if a first chemical product is stored in a first drum and a second chemical product is stored in a second drum, the allocation system may control distribution of these chemical products such that the first chemical product and the second chemical product are dispensed from the drums to a point-of-use in a specified sequence. The on-site allocation system may also be coupled to the on-site formulation system to control formulation operations such that each chemical product is formulated according to a specified plan or sequence. For example, the allocation system may direct the formulation system to prepare a first chemical product for cleaning a utility device and immediately thereafter prepare a second chemical product for sanitizing the utility device.
On-site formulation systems and allocation systems are typically included as components to a chemical dispense system. A chemical dispense system may include both of these components or one and not the other. In this respect, a chemical dispense system including an allocator, and not a formulator, distributes pre-formulated chemical products stored in drums to a point-of-use. Similarly, a chemical dispense system that includes a formulator, and not an allocator, prepares chemical products, but is not responsible for distributing the products to a point-of-use.
Conventional chemical dispense systems formulate and allocate chemical products in response to instructions that are pre-stored locally on the chemical dispense systems. A service providing organization (“service provider”) typically manages these and other operations of a chemical dispense systems for a customer. Employees of the service provider, such as field service technicians and/or account managers, which are collectively referred to herein as “system operators,” must physically visit these chemical dispense systems in order to input new instructions or revise the instructions that are already stored on the system. Conventional chemical dispense systems also provide information associated with the volume of each chemical concentrate used by the system as well as the volume of each chemical product dispensed by the system. However, these volumetric measurements are only presented to system operators using a display device local to the system. Therefore, system operators must physically visit these systems to gather such information.